These 10 Old Movies Are Worth Watching

It's a list of movie recommendations with a twist: all were made decades ago, the most recent one clocking in at 1962. Which is precisely the point of the recommendations by Columbia linguistics professor John McWhorter in the New York Times, who argues that old movies have much to teach us about America. "Good films are as worthy of their time as good books, and the best of them are as artistically rich as the finest literature our nation has produced," he writes. His top 10 (all are US films):

• Singin' in the Rain, 1952
• Rear Window, 1954
• Gone With the Wind, 1939
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962
• Citizen Kane, 1941
• All About Eve, 1950
• Top Hat, 1935
• 42nd Street, 1933
• Casablanca, 1942
• Stormy Weather, 1943

Read the full essay for the author's short descriptions on why each film makes the cut. (More movies stories.)